Surviving Among the Entities

『Okay, I was wrong! It was all my fault! Please! Please forgive me!』

After about an hour of corporal punishment, the model student ghost abandoned the student affairs teacher’s body, emerged, and apologized to us.

『Uhuhueng! Please forgive me!』
“……”
“Beg for forgiveness a bit more. If you don’t receive forgiveness, I will resume the corporal punishment. By the way, I can strike spiritual bodies too.”
“Ahem! What have we done to deserve forgiveness……”
“Yes, I’ll forgive you.”
『Let’s forgive, no, we must forgive.』

After the incident was resolved, I made a request to the model student ghost.

“Will you guide us out of the school? And please come with us. I implore you.”
『Hieek! Yes, yes!』

The model student ghost obediently followed my words like a docile lamb.

‘Ah, this is the true taste of education.’

The gratification of taming a naughty lamb into an obedient one!
Is this why everyone aspires to become a teacher?

『Phew, I’ve released it! Please, let me faint now!』
“You may faint.”
『Aaah……』

Having remained conscious through sheer willpower, the model student ghost now wore a liberated expression.

『Finally….. I can rest……』

The blurry figure transformed into a single notebook.

“It doesn’t seem to have been a true spiritual entity, after all.”
“Do you know something?”
“It is said that objects can harbor human spirits. That entity may have been born from the spirit dwelling within this notebook.”

Following Kim Go-deuk’s words, I read the notebook.
It contained all sorts of ghost stories, which the agents claimed were the ones they had witnessed.

‘This must be the life form created by Dr. Janus.’

Was it an entity created by extracting information bodies, using the model student ghost as the core, and combining other ghost stories?
Or was it created by processing the model student ghost’s ghost story into this form?

‘Either way, it’s impressive.’

Would the Family Zoo even accept something like this as a life form?
Perhaps Dr. Janus created it in this manner because they would accept it?

‘I wonder what would happen if I submitted this?’

While the address was something I couldn’t read, I could use my “Notebook in My Mind” to draw it like a picture and have the Foundation send it on my behalf.

‘The Foundation should be able to send objects to other dimensions.’

Well, if the entity is willing to live properly and behave, there’s no need to send it there.
It may even be able to live as a Foundation agent like Shin Yeong-mun.

『Hey, original, long time no see.』
“American Lee?”

After the incident was resolved, I saw a familiar face.

『Ha! That damned Ghost used its ability to summon me! I was on vacation! The dog and the Japanese guy were also summoned, but I don’t know where they are.』
“While I regret not being able to see their faces, it’s enough to know they’re doing well.”

At that moment, a familiar voice came from behind the main building.

“Ddeuddaei!”
『So-hee-chan! Quick, let’s escape-dano! The school’s barrier has opened-dano!』

It seems during our battle, ordinary people had entered the school, and Satoshi had helped them.

‘They’re doing well.’

As for Seung-gyeon, while I couldn’t see his face, according to American Lee, he seemed busy.

『That guy, he’s been going around healing people. Since he keeps healing those without money or children, leading to more sighting reports, he’s being called the angel Welsh Corgi.』

My reunion with American Lee was brief.

『I should go enjoy the rest of my aborted vacation.』
“Take care.”
『See ya!』

Afterwards, I accompanied the agents on their return to the Foundation.
I recounted the events at the school to Ms. Sung Yu-ra, an S-Class agent and one of the Foundation’s administrators.

“Dr. Janus, huh. An existence we couldn’t identify.”
“Even with Sephirot, you couldn’t find out?”
“Just because we have Sephirot doesn’t mean we can access information on every dimension.”

She explained that dimensions contain many powerful transcendents who are sensitive to information or can detect and attack attempts to probe their information, so the Foundation avoids carelessly gathering information.

‘Had they noticed my right eye’s gaze as well?’

If he had just a bit more budget.
If he had included the “Dittjidittji” function, what might have happened?

‘One thing is certain.’

It wouldn’t have ended easily.

“No Named is a name I’m hearing for the first time. From Seung-hoon’s explanation, it seems like someone trying to utilize entities, and there are countless such individuals.”
“Can’t the Foundation manage them all?”
“Even during the Foundation’s prime, it was impossible. They’re like weeds, excel at hiding, form alliances among themselves, and even if we eliminate some, others emerge.”

This was no different from a game.

‘No matter how powerful the Foundation was in the game, groups outside the Foundation still emerged.’

Groups outside the Foundation only caused incidents by utilizing entities, with no accurate information even on the wiki.

‘Perhaps they didn’t bother with detailed settings, or they aimed for a cryptic atmosphere through the information blackout characteristic of creepypastas.’

Whichever it was, the fact that it was regrettable remained unchanged.
A few days after my report to the Foundation, I received a message from Mr. Dong-wook.

-Hey, about that entity Seung-hoon told us about, it keeps causing trouble.

Apparently, it repeatedly attempted to manifest the ghost stories it had created in reality to take over the Foundation, making it extremely difficult to manage.

-For now, it’s just difficult, but as time passes and it grows stronger, discussions are ongoing about potentially disposing of it.
“It’s just going through puberty. Isn’t it normal for them to grow rapidly at that age?”
-A ghost going through puberty? Umm, since it’s an entity, I suppose that’s possible……?
“In any case, if it becomes too much trouble, send it here.”

In preparation for such an eventuality, I took a picture of the address to the Family Zoo dimension I had drawn and sent it to him.

-What is this place?
“A dimension belonging to a powerful entity that uses even the entire universe as a menagerie.”
-…I’ll have to make preparations before sending it there. Thank you.

As expected, the Foundation could send parcels across dimensions.

“Delivery!”

The next day, a parcel arrived.

[Sender: Family Zoo]

I couldn’t understand how this had ended up here.
While it was the Foundation that had sent the model student ghost, the Family Zoo knew of me and had sent me a parcel.

‘Among entities, there are those that can see through truth and falsehood.’

Considering their scale of using even the universe as a menagerie, this would not be a difficult feat for them.
Inside the small box was a letter sent from the Family Zoo.

[Thank you for your submission to our rare animal collection event.]
[Your animal was truly rare, but unfortunately failed to win a prize due to its extreme lack of movement.]
[However, being a rare type of spiritual being earned bonus points, and your ability to create other beings was highly regarded, so we award you an honorable mention.]

Additionally, a list of the winning entries was enclosed, as the rare animal collection event had concluded.

[5th Place: The Living Abyss Apartment]
[Head Zookeeper’s Evaluation: Highly impressive, each floor is a life form, each unit number is a life form, abducting humans from other dimensions, torture, mockery, ecstasy, hell, digestion, absorption, but lacks movement, only moves inside.]

[4th Place: The Sunrise Tumbleweeds]
[Head Zookeeper’s Evaluation: Highly impressive, only sparkles at sunrise, those lights number a million galaxies, resplendent, heals souls, beauty, but short-lived.]

[3rd Place: The Shadow Cat]
[Head Zookeeper’s Evaluation: Truly, highly impressive! A cat made of shadows! Quantum leaps! Existing through probability! Dead but alive! Alive but dead! Difficult to observe!]

[2nd Place: The Horned Horse]
[Head Zookeeper’s Evaluation: Truly, immensely impressive! A horse! But with a horn! A horned horse! Never seen before!]

[1st Place: The Universal Collective Ascension]
[Head Zookeeper’s Evaluation: Truly, immensely, tremendously impressive! All life forms, one! Ascension, unity! All suffering, together! All joy, together! All chaos, together! An exceedingly rare universe!]

Leaving aside the head zookeeper’s concise evaluations, I took out the final item in the parcel box.

[Honorable Mention] A small candy pouch labeled “Mr. Ando Chef’s Taste of the Universe!” with a sticker attached.
In the corner, a pig in an astronaut suit winked, with a speech bubble saying “Yummy!”

’30 pieces, 5 different flavors?’

Among the coin-sized candies wrapped in red, blue, purple, black, and white plastic, I took out a blue one and ate it.

“!?”

It had an incredibly unique flavor. One I had never tasted in my life, and likely would never taste again without this candy.
Not sour, salty, sweet, spicy, bitter, savory, fatty, or astringent – while impossible to express, I instinctively knew what this flavor was.

“A supernova.”

If you mixed together chemical and geological flavors with tastes of searing heat and scorching, would it result in this flavor?
It wasn’t a metaphor; that’s genuinely how it tasted.

‘Let me try the others.’

The red one tasted like a red giant.
Hot, but with a welling sense of vitality.

The purple one tasted like a blend of dark matter and dark energy.
More so than when in the mouth, it left an empty taste in the stomach after swallowing, as if settling in the gut.

The white one tasted like a white dwarf.
The flavor of everything coming to an end, growing cold and lifeless, conveying the futility of the world.

Lastly, the black one tasted like a black hole.
It was intensely sour, causing my mouth to involuntarily pucker, and the puckering gradually intensified over time until I quickly spat out the candy.

“If I had kept eating it, I might have been sucked into the candy.”

Excluding the black hole flavor, the rest seemed safe.
I even sprayed enhancement and weakening potions on them, but there was no change.

“Well, I suppose this incident is settled with this.”
『As expected, the original is a magnificent kindred spirit-dano!』

A familiar face was reflected on the ceiling fluorescent light.

『Mumbling to oneself is an otaku’s basic passive-dano!』
“Satoshi?”

My doppelganger, Satoshi, who used to wear nameless anime character t-shirts, now sported a neat attire unlike before.

『I recently found a new favorite, so I changed my outfit-dano.』
“Who’s your new favorite?”
『It’s a secret-dano! She’s too popular, so I don’t want to commercialize it-dano! I wish So-hee-chan could have been my small, private favorite! But she’s a major corporation-dano!』

After a brief conversation, Satoshi brought up the real reason for visiting me.

『Here, take this-dano! It’s the Isekai Transference book series I found for you-dano!』

Suddenly, a book had appeared on the desk.

“Book of Isekai Transference for Those Who Want to Go to Another World 5: Martial Arts”

In the game, I had seen up to volume 4.
Volume 5 was new to me.

『I originally made a deal with that guy, but I used that part to save So-hee-chan-dano!』
“Thank you, with this I can help even more people.”
『But from what I’ve seen, it’s more likely to be used by daring people rather than those in need-dano.』
“Is that so?”
『In any case, if you’re grateful, grant me one favor-dano!』
“What is it?”

Satoshi slowly pushed up his glasses.

『Buy me an iPad-dano. I want to watch So-hee-chan’s broadcasts in high definition-dano.』

『Thank you-dano! With this, I can watch So-hee-chan’s broadcasts every day-dano!』

After bidding farewell, Satoshi departed.
The iPad I had purchased was placed on the desk, but the world briefly flickered, and it had already ended up in his hands.

“Hmm.”

Come to think of it, he had said it would be used more by daring people than those in need?
I opened the book. Instead of medieval fantasy, different precautions and basic information were written, but after skimming through them, I first checked the records of previous users of this book.

[1. Kim So-cheon (21), Deceased: Born riding the Steel Physique (mid-low). Born as the child of a sect leader of a mid-tier sect, exposed to and cultivating martial arts from a young age. Through diligent effort, became an adult and joined the Dragon Phoenix Summit, boasting exceptional late-stage innate abilities. However, during a mountain excursion with his sworn brothers from the Summit, they discovered the Millennial Frozen Avalanche. All sects affiliated with the Summit members waged war over ownership, leading to the Five Sect War. Participated in the battle and was struck by a blind sword, dying from blood loss.]

“No matter what, it seems to share similarities with medieval fantasy.”

Whichever path, life is harsh.

“Shall I read further?”